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Excursiov* ... Q**<^envMicV> Village 



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Glass T I ^ 6 
Book 



IXV' 




EXCURSION 

PLANNED FOR THE 

CITY HISTORY CLUB 

OF 

NEW YORK 

BY 

FRANK BERGEN KELLEY, A. M., Ph. D. 

No. II— GREENWICH VILLAGE AND LISPENARD'S 
MEADOWS (Revised). 

(15th Street to Chambers Street, West of Broadway). 

PRICE, 5 CENTS. 

Mailed on receipt of price by Secretary, City History Club, 

23 W. 44th Street. 



Copyrighted, 1902, by the City History Club of New York. 

Collected set. 



Excursion No. II (revised) should be used in connection with the City 
History Club Plan of New York in the English Period (1760) in addition 
to the three maps at the end of this itinerary. Excursions Nos. I and VI 
connect with points south, and No. Ill with points east of Broadway. 

The following are recommended as short works of reference : Todd's 
"Story of the City of New York " (Putnam) ; "Historic New York" 
("Half Moon Series"), especially "Old Greenwich," " Annetje Jans' 
Farm" and "Old Wells and Water Courses" (Putnam); Hemstreet's 
" Nooks and Corners of Old New York " (Scribner) ; Ulmann's " Land- 
mark History of New York" (Appleton) ; Janvier's " In Old New York " 
(Harper) ; Tyler's reproductions of famous local maps and illustrations 
(Dunreath Publishing Co., 46 Wall Street) ; City History Club pubhca- 
tions (see last page). 

Since the best authorities differ as to exact localities of many historic 
events, there is much room for error in a w^ork of this kind, and the writer 
will be pleased to receive criticisms and additions, especially if authorities 
are quoted. 

INTRODUCTION, 

The original shore line of this section was just west of Greenwich 
Street, which was a shore road to Greenwich Village, possibly succeeding 
an old Indian path. 

The "Annetje (Anneke) Jans' Farm," granted in 1635 to Roclof 
Jannsen, consisted of 62 acres lying between the present Warren and 
Canal Streets, west of Broadway (see map II). Roelof's widow, Annetje, 
married Dominie Bogardus, whence the later name — the Bogardus Farm 
or the Dominie's Bouwerie. It was sold to Gov. Lovelace in 1670, con- 
fiscated by the Duke of York in 1674, and called successively the Duke's 
Farm, the King's Farm and the Queen's Farm, until, in 1705, Queen 
Anne granted it in perpetuity to Trinity Church, when it was called the 
Church Farm. Most of it is still Trinity property except the portions 
ceded by the corporation to the city for streets and St. John's Park. 

The Kalch Hoek (Chalkie Hook) was a promontory projecting into a 
swampy region just east and northeast of the Farm, which was finally 
drained about 1730 by Anthony Rutgers. His daughter married Leonard 
Lispenard, whence the names Lispenard's (Lepner's) Meadows, Lispenard 
and Leonard Streets. A canal, constructed through these meadows 
on the line of Canal Street, after the City Plan of 1807 was adopted, 
drained the Collect Pond which was at Center Street. The " Old Jans 
Farm " of Jans Celes lay north of Canal Street and just beyond was the 



*' Zandtberg " or sand hills, forming the southern boundary of a far more 
healthful region than the swampy land below. 

Lower Greenwich was a little settlement at the foot of Spring Street 
and Upper Greenwich at the foot of Christopher Street. Greenwich proper 
contained the oldest settlement of white men on Manhattan except that 
formed around Fort Amsterdam. Its boundaries are, roughly, the North 
River, West 14th Street and the line of the Minetta Brook (the east branch 
of which rose in Madison Square, crossed Washington Square, ran 
through the line of Minetta and Downing Streets, and emptied into the 
North River just north of Charlton Street). 

The original Greenwich was, however, of much smaller compass, con- 
sisting of a few houses located near the old Indian village of Sappokanican, 
where Gansevoort Market is now located. It was the West India Com- 
pany's Farm No. Ill, or the Bossen Bouwerie (Farm in the Woods). 
Here, in 1633, Gov. Van Twiller established a tobacco plantation often 
known by its old Indian name. Because of its healthfulness and fertility, it 
was a popular place of settlement. It received the name of Greenwich in 
the early part of the eighteenth century. Among the early residents of 
prominence were Captain, later Admiral, Sir Peter Warren, Oliver De 
Lancey (Warren's brother-in-law), Commissary Mortier, Wm. Bayard and 
James Jauncey. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century this section of the city 
became a refuge from the plagues of yellow fever and cholera, and was 
rapidly built up. 

The dovetailing of the new city plan of 1807-1 1 on the old line of streets 
in Greenwich Village gave rise to some curious complications, such as the 
crossing of loth and nth Streets by 4th Street, etc. This new plan, to- 
gether with changes about Washington Square, brought Greenwich into 
closer union with the rest of the city, although its individuality is still very 
marked. 



EXCURSION No. H. 

GREENWICH VILLAGE AND LISPENARD'S MEADOWS. 

( The letters refer to Map I at the end.) 

SECTION I. WASHINGTON SQUARE AND STREETS NORTH 
OF WEST loTH STREET. 

A. Washington Square. Made a park, 1827; Potter's Field, 1789- 
1823; New York University (Washington Square East), former building- 
erected 1830, scene of Stone Cutters' riot and inventions of Morse and 
Draper; gave name to University Place. See statues of G.aribalili and 
Holley; Washing'tou Arch, erected 1889, to commemorate the anni- 
versary of Washington's inauguration. 

Washington Mews (north of Waverly and west of University Place). 
" Mews " is an English term denoting a rear alley for stables, etc. (Skeat's 
Dictionary). 

Eighth street was formerly called Clinton Place. "Art Street " or Astor 
place and " Monument Lane," now Greenwich Avenue, met in Washington 
Square. 

Note difference in the method of laying out and designating the streets 
north and south of Washington Square. 

Go west oil Washi7igton Place. 

B. Old liouse, 135 Washington Place. 

Go east on Grove street to Waverly Place. 

C. Christopher Street Park. The Northern Dispensary, once a 
Presbyterian Church, was built in 1802 and rebuilt 1827-31. The Herring 
Farm lay between Bleecker Street and Waverly Place, Christopher 
(formerly called Skinner Road, later Herring Street) and West 4th Street. 

Go through Gay Street. 
Note old houses here and at 11 Christopher Street. 



D. Jefferson Market (" New Greenwich Market"): market, court, 
prison ; home of Exempt Firemen's Organization, in whose rooms may 
be seen a very interesting exhibit of old fire apparatus, pictures, etc. 

Go up east side of 6th Avenue to nth Street. 

E. Second Beth Haim (" Place of Rest "), estabhshed here 1729 and 
partially removed in 1830 to the southwest corner of 6th Avenue and 21st 
Street. The old " Grapevine " adjoining was once a popular roadhouse. 
nth Street (called " Hammond Street " west of Sixth Avenue) was opened 
in 1830. At 33 West nth Street the rear building marks the line of the 
old Union Road joining Skinner Road (Christopher Street) and Southamp- 
ton Road (Gansevoort Street); see the old cistern and chimney. The 
walls of 28-36 and 49 West 13th Street and 43-45 West 12th Street mark 
the line of the Union Road. 

Go down the west side of 6th Avenue. 

Note the slant of the buildings at Milligan Place, formerly " Milli- 
gan's Lane," connecting " Amos " or West loth Street with the Union Road 
(between loth and nth Streets). See Patchin Place, opposite Jefferson 
Market. 

Go west on West loth Street. 

See old houses at 129 and 131, covered with wistaria vines. 
Greenwich Avenue (" Monument Lane ") led to an 

F. Obelisk to Gen. Wolfe (hero of Quebec, 1759). located near 15th 
Street and Eighth Avenue. 

Go north on West 4th Street. 

G. Site of Warren Honse (home of Captain, later Admiral, Sir Peter 
Warren) on block bounded by West 4th, Charles, Bleecker and Perry 
Streets. 

Go zuest 071 Bank Street. 

Bank Street was so called from the banks located here during the 
yellow fever epidemic of 1799. 

H. Abingdon Square was named for the Countess of Abingdon, Ad- 
miral Warren's daughter. Eighth Avenue was the original " Fitzroy 
Road " which was named for Warren's son-in-law, created Baron South- 
ampton 1780. 



Go Jiorth on Hudson Street {Eighth Avenue) to Horatio Street. 

I. Jiickson Park, the popular square of this neighborhood. 
See old houses at 13-19 and 3$ Horatio Street. 

Go up Greefiwich and west on Gaiisevoort Street. 

Gansevoort Street was once called " Great Kiln Road " or " South- 
ampton Road " after Baron Southampton. The Gansevoort House was 
at 92-94. 

K. Gansevoort Market ; Site of Sappokanican (" carrying place "), the 
Indian village where Hudson is supposed to have anchored in 1609 and 
of Fort Gansevoort which was torn down about 1851. The original Green- 
wich is said to have started in this vicinity. (See Introduction.) 



Take West Street car going south. 

SECTION II. BETWEEN WEST TENTH AND SPRING 

STREETS. 

L. Site of 1st New York State Prison (foot of West loth Street), 
built in 1796; removed to Sing Sing 1829; the foundation stones are said 
to have been incorporated in the walls of the brewery now on the spot. 
"Greenwich Hotel" was near the prison in 181 1 ; stages went from this 
point to Federal Hall five times a day. 

On November 4, 1825, the Erie Procession stopped at the foot of 
West loth Street, where it was met by the city officials and escorted to 
the Navy Yard. Log rafts were formerly anchored off shore, and a mar- 
ket was located here in 1 804. 

M. Old houses on Weehawken Street, possibly built before 1767 
(see Ra'tzen Map). One of the houses was once the station of the Hud- 
son River R. R. The blocks between Greenwich, West loth and Chris- 
topher Streets v;ill form the terminal for the N. Y. and N. J. R. R. Co.'s 
Tunnel. 

Go cast on West loth Street. 

See old houses at 248 (rear alley), 246. 238 and 236 West loth Street. 

Go back to Hudson Street and south to Grove Street. 

N. St. Luke's (a chapel of Trinity) was built here 1821-24; the new 
St. Luke's is at 141st Street and Convent Avenue, adjoining Hamilton 



Grange. The building next door to the old chapel was a Home for Aged 
Couples, now at West 112th Street. 

O. The old Grove Street School is the third oldest public school 
in New York. 

Go east on Grove Street. 

Grove Street (" Cozine," " Columbia," " Burrows ") was widened and 
partly straightened in 1836. 

P. Site of house where Tom Paine died in 1809, 59 Grove Street. 
Barrow Street was called Reason Street (later " Raisin Street) in honor of 
Paine's " Age of Reason " by the commissioners who laid out the City 
Plan of 1807. Their office v^as at the corner of Bleecker and Christopher 
Streets. Paine lived for a time with Mme. Bonneville at the site of 293 
(or 309) Bleecker Street. 

Go down Bleecker Street a?id west on Commerce Street. 

Washington Irving's sister lived at 1 5 Commerce Street. The old 
Broderick House is at the southwest corner of Barrow Street. 

Go back to Bleecker Street and down to Bedford Street. 

See the old Methodist Church (original building erected 18 10, rebuilt 
1840) and old store opposite. 

Go west on Leroy Street. 

R. Hudson Park occupies the site of St. John's Cemetery, which was 
converted into a park in 1898. See the Firemen's Monument and tablets; 
the pool and fountam are in the French-Italian style of the 17th Century. 

Go east on Downing- Street. 
See old style houses at 54, 59 and 61. 

Go up Minetta Street a?td west 07i Minetta Lajte to Sixth Avenue. ■ 

These names are derived from the Minetta Water, or Minetta Brook 
(see Introduction). 

Go down Bleecker to Ha^icock Street. 

Hancock Street was once called Cottage Place, from the cottage-like 
houses with deep yards, some of which still front on this street. Anne 
Stephens once lived here. 



Go dcnvn Hancock and Congress Streets to King Streets. 

See old houses at 56 and 58 King Street. 

S. Site of Riehmoiid Hill (on block bounded by King, McDougal 
Charlton and Varick Streets), built by Abraham Mortier, Commissary of 
the English army in 1760, and occupied by Lord Amherst, Sir Wm. 
■Carleton, Washington (1776), Vice-President Adams (1789) and Aaron 
Burr. The Indians called this '• Ishpatanau," or bad hill. 

Go doi.vn King Street to Varick Street. 

See old houses at 173 Varick Street and at the corner of Spring and 
Varick, Spring and McDougal and Dominick and Clark Streets. 

Spring Street (formerly Brannon Street) was so called from the natural 
well which was the scene of an early tragedy. In 1755 Brannon Garden 
occupied the corner at Spring and Hudson Streets, the neighborhood being 
known as Lower Greenwieli. The Spring Street Presbyterian Church 
(built 1825) near Varick Street is on the site of the original building 
erected 181 1. 

Go sontk to Canal Street. 

SECTION III. SOUTH OF CANAL STREET. 

Canal Street: line of the canal draining the Collect Pond. The sewer 
now carries the drainage of the original springs in the middle of the island. 
See old houses on the triangular block bounded by Canal, Laight and 
Varick Streets. 

X. Site of the original l>ridg*e crossing the canal at Broadway. 

T. St. John's Chapel, built 1803-07, called " St. John's in the Fields," 
was once the center of a fashionable neighborhood. The key of the chapel 
may be obtained from the sexton at the house on the south. The gal- 
leries, columns and pulpit are original. The bell, clock and iron fence 
were brought from London. 

U. Site of St. John's Park, laid out as a private park in 1821 and 
sold to the Hudson River R. R. for a freight station about 1865. Around 
the park lived Alexander Hamilton, General Schuyler and other prominent 
•citizens. John Ericsson lived at the present 36 Beach Street. The small 
triangular park at Beach Street and West Broadway is the only green spot 
remaining of the Annetje Jans Farm. 



Lispenard Street is a reminder of Lispenard's Meadows (see Introduc- 
tion). The Rutg-ers' Mansion was at Thomas Street and Broadway, and 
about the middle of the Eighteenth Century became the center of Rane- 
lag-h Garden. The New York Hospital, completed 1775, occupied about 
the same site. 

V. Site of Washington's landing" in 1775, on West Street south ofi 
Laight Street, formerly marked by a bronze tablet. The North Fort, 
erected during the War of 181 2 was located at the foot of Hubert Street. 



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MAP I (made for the City History Club of New York). 
Index. 




7APA»MR0»(f 



A. 


Washington Square. 


M. 


Old houses, Weehawken Street. 


B. 


135 Washington Place. 


N. 


St. Luke's Chapel. 


C. 


North Dispensary. 


0. 


Grove Street School. 


D. 


Jefferson Market. 


P. 


Site of Tom Paine's last home. 


E. 


Beth Haim; the Grapevine. 


R. 


Hud.son Park. 


F. 


Site of Wolfe obelisk. 


R. 


Hudson Park (St. John's Cemetery) 


G. 


Site of Warren House. 


S. 


Site of Richmond Hill. 


H. 


Abingdon Square. 


T. 


St. John's Chapel. 


I. 


Jackson Park. 


U. 


Site of St. John's Park. 


K. 


Gansevoort Market. 


V. 


Site of Washington's Landing, 1775, 


L. 


Site of first New York State Prison. 


X. 


Site of bridge on Broadway. 



II 



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MAP II. MAP III. 

From "In Old New York." By permission. Copyright, 1894, by Harper & Brothers. 



OBJECT.—" The City History Club has for its object the study of 
the history of the City of New York, in the hope of awakening an interest 
in its traditions and in the possibilities of its future, such educational work 
being for the improvement, uplifting and civic betterment of the com- 
munity." 

HISTORICAL EXCURSIONS.~The Club is prepared to furnish a 
competent guide to points of historic interest, the fee varying from §3 to ^5 
according to the locality visited. 

L.4NTERN SLIDES AND LECTURES.— Slides illustrating City His- 
tory may be hired at $2 per set, and Lecturers may be secured on appli- 
cation to the Corresponding Secretar}'. 

PUBLICATIONS.— Syllabus of a Course of Study on the History of 
New York with suggestive questions on the Dutch Period. 10 cents. 

Bibliography of the Dutch Period. 10 cents. 

Syllabus of the English and Revolutionary Periods. 10 cents. Set of 
above three, 25 cents. 

City Histoiy Leaflet No. i, "An Early Excise Law," " The Currency 
of New Amsterdam " (translations of early Dutch laws). 5 cents. 

" Graphic Views of Government " (to illustrate the relations of our 
National, State and City governments). $ cents. 

City History Club Map of New York in the English Period. 5 cents. 

Club Song, 5 cents. 

Historical Excursions. (5 cents each.) 

No. I. City Hall and historical sites between Chambers and Wall 
Streets. 

No. II. Old Greenwich Village. 

No. HI. The Bowery and Stuyvesant's Home. 

No. IV. Central Park to Van Cortlandt Park. (Revised with Maps.) 

No. V. (Bicycle Excursion No. II.) McGown's Pass and upper Central 
Park. 

No. VI. Eraunces' Tavern. (Illustrated.) 

No. VIl. Dutch New York, sites below Wall Street. (2 maps.) A 
set of all the above publications will be mailed to any address on receipt of 
50 cents. 

Club Game, 25 cents. 

ILLUSTRATIONS.- The Club publishes 45 small pictures of the 
famous men, buildings and historic events of local history. These are 
sold for 25 cents per set. 

The Club Year Book may be obtained on application to the Corre- 
sponding Secretary, 23 West 44th Street. 

H 7525. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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